Hi guys,

The OEM wheel bearings on my race car needed to be replaced after 4 years of racing/track-days. There was too much play in the hub. I got new OEM wheel bearings from Honda and had a local shop remove the old ones and press the new ones in. I have the knuckles back on the car and the play is still there! The end play should be 0.0 to 0.002" (from my Helm Inc. manual), but I have 0.004" on the brand new ones. WTF? What could be my problem? Should I be using something other than OEM Honda? Could the hub or even the knuckles be bad somehow?

Thanks in advance for any help.

PS. The axles are out of the car, does the axle nut remove some of this play?? Acually now that I think about it they would.. let me try putting an axle on it and see what the end play is.


Modified by 577HondaPrelude at 2:44 PM 3/27/2008

 

i had that happen to me once, the shop didn't press it all the way in.

Not sure about the axle, non of my hubs have play when not on the car.

 

did u replace the hub? sometimes a worn hub will do this.

 

I put an axle in and torqued down the axle nut and the play went to zero. After I removed the axle the play was still at zero. I think they just didn't press the hub in far enough, and by torquing the nut down it squeezed it in the rest of the way.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 577HondaPrelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I put an axle in and torqued down the axle nut and the play went to zero. After I removed the axle the play was still at zero. I think they just didn't press the hub in far enough, and by torquing the nut down it squeezed it in the rest of the way.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, this is normal. If you lose an axle bolt in a race you'll trash the bearing pretty quick. The axle nut helps hold the bearing together.

I've had to overtorque axle nuts to get rid of the play sometimes too, I'm not too worried about it.

P.S. 4 years on front wheel bearings? Wow. I replace mine every year. Rears I might let go 2-3 years.

-Chris

 

Question to the Prelude guys. Are the Prelude hubs the same as those used on the Integra or are they different?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yeah, this is normal. If you lose an axle bolt in a race you'll trash the bearing pretty quick. The axle nut helps hold the bearing together.

I've had to overtorque axle nuts to get rid of the play sometimes too, I'm not too worried about it.

P.S. 4 years on front wheel bearings? Wow. I replace mine every year. Rears I might let go 2-3 years.

-Chris</TD></TR></TABLE>
i had to overtorque one to get through a weekend (thank you aj) and i usually replace the LF once a year. RF 1.5ish years

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
P.S. 4 years on front wheel bearings? Wow. I replace mine every year. Rears I might let go 2-3 years.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I actually just replaced my fronts on the integra after 2.5 years of use by me and who knows how much by the previous owner (I think they were relatively new when I bought the car). I had been checking them for play before every event because it seemed like they were getting long in the tooth, but they were actually both totally solid until I tagged a tire wall with the front right. After that there was noticeable play on the right front, so I just replaced them both. I wonder if particular tracks or cars are harder on wheel bearings than others.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mc-integra111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Question to the Prelude guys. Are the Prelude hubs the same as those used on the Integra or are they different?</TD></TR></TABLE>

preludes use a five bolt or a fourx114 bolt pattern so the hubs are different than the integras

 

smokin rubber - Thanks.

I think the Integras are pretty easy on the hubs. I am entering the 4th season on the front hubs and the rears are still the original OEM ones.

 

We just pulled my wheel bearing off the Type-R, found out that I spun the hub, so we need to replace the hub as well...but then again it had a lot of track days on it(17 weekends), and a lot of miles(~135k), so we weren't too surprised.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mc-integra111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">smokin rubber - Thanks.

I think the Integras are pretty easy on the hubs. I am entering the 4th season on the front hubs and the rears are still the original OEM ones.</TD></TR></TABLE>

My turbo ITR would eat front left wheel bearings, and went through 1 set of rears too. I went through 1 set of front wheel bearings while N/A, and then a 2nd/3rd while Turbo. My brake heat was killing them with the turbo. I went through one set of rears too after 60K original miles.

I don't take chances anymore. The Prelude hubs are a bit beefier and have a bigger axle and axle bolt than the Integras. Better safe than sorry.

I'm actually replacing the hubs this year too. They look original to me (or junkyard, anyway) and I know they've had a rough life.

-Chris

 

but you drive like a made man Chris. Everything on your car is a wear item.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 577HondaPrelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but you drive like a made man Chris. Everything on your car is a wear item. </TD></TR></TABLE>